The present invention relates generally to equipment for continuously removing ore from a deposit in the ground. More particularly, the invention concerns a method and apparatus for mining from both surface and underground deposits.
In both surface and underground mining, the ore deposits must be excavated prior to removing the ore from the mine for processing. For surface mining, a variety of machines including bulldozers, power shovels, and the like, are used to remove a seam of ore from the top downward over a large area.
Underground mining presents different requirements. Typically, a vertical face will be incrementally advanced through the seam by cutting away vertical layers in a horizontal shaft. Since the work will be accomplished in an area having limited height and accessibility, the use of bulldozers, power shovels and the like is contraindicated. Conventional continuous miners and load-haul-dump (LHD) machines, both of which operate by digging the ore from the ground, find use underground.